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" man sTanNroFmoE.

l winms MANsFinLD, or Nnw HAVEN, CONNECTICUT.

e House Fon. SWITCH-maithuna a e specieeation of Letters Patent No. `11,43 1,'1ated August 1, 1854.

To all whomz' may concern.' a y i a Be it known that I, WiLLIs MANSFIELD, of the city of New Haven, county of New Haven, and State of Connecticut, have invented a new and Improved Switch-House,V

and that the following specification, taken infconnection with the drawings, is a full, exact,` and suiiicient description thereof.

`In thedrawings, Figure lis an `elevation of one formof my improved switch-house,

showing the switchetc. Fig. 2 isa vertical section through the saine. 3 is a horizontal section on the lineA B` of Fig. 1, showing the house and switch in the position which the various parts assume when 1 the switch is open or placed insuch position thatcarsmust enter the turn out or siding." Figs is also a horizontal section showing the same parts in `the position which they assume when the switch is shut and in proper place for passing` cars in either direction safely along the main track. a

Fig. 5 `is a vertical section through a switch house of another form, with the switch, etc.,

in the same position as in Fig.4, and Fig. v

6 is a horizontal section through the same house exhibiting by means of red lines, etc.,

the switch in three different positions.

In the running of rail roads there arise many accidents, and therelis perhaps no one cause that they may be so often fairly` attributed to as afwrong set switch. In-` genious men have consequently devised many plans for obviating the danger arising f from such c'auses, and the whole class of self acting switches have been produced as the result of their labors. `My `mind has however, after long consideration `and eX` perience been led to pursue an `entirely dif'- ferent track and `I have become convinced` that complete safety would be secured if it were only possible to prevent the switchman `from leaving his post after he hadl opened a switch and until such time as `thei switch should again :be closed after the train had passed onto the siding. As the switch-tender is often employed` on other duties than that of merely moving the switch it is `not well in my opinion to dispense with him altogether, as is the casein self acting switches, all that is necessary `for safety beingto oblige him to shut `the `switch prior td leaving his post.

` The object of `myfinvention thereforeis `absolutely to prevent the switchman from leaving 4his post so long as the switch remains open. After several attempts to secure` this `object in a practical manner it occurred that `it could be `attained by so constructing the door of his house that it would move in unison with the switch being open when the switch was shut and `shut when the switch was open. I then placed the gate or apparatus which moved the switch within the switch-house and located the switch-bolt or latch in the same inclosure, so that-,it was impossible to unlatch and move the switch without entering `the house. If the switch be shut the house doer must be `open, and when the switch-tender `desires to open the switch he must enter the house in order to unlatch and operate the gate. As he performs the latter duty, he of necessity from `the connection before mentioned closes `his door for the shutter to the ,aperture throughwhich he` entered his house and is conned therein until the `gate is again `operated toshut `the switch. Asthe switch shuts thedoor opens and when the former is `fully shut the latter ,isv fopen to such an extent as will permit the tender to leave his house to perform police `or other duty in his immediate neighborhood until the time arrives for switching-off theneXt train.

The nature of my invention therefore consists in connecting the door or doors of a switch house or their equivalents `withtheswitchproper or somemechanisni movin therewith 1n such manner that when the former is shut the latter 'shall be open and `manner hereinafter described.

Now I have `devised many plans for cari rying out theprinciples off my invention in a practical manner, and will proceed fully to describe one of them and also a `method of embodying `my invention practically under a slightly modified form. In `the iiirst place there is constructed a polygonal or cylindrical house (a `a a) Vlocated. properly near the switch, and erected upon azsuitable bearing in said house is `vertical shaft To the upper end of `this shaft I `secure a shutter `(c c) with any convenient numberof openings" therein (del). To the lower end of `said shaft I securea crank (e) `and to a wrist upon the same (f) 1 attach a connecting.' rod (g), which takes hold of the switch at tached a handle (7c), which is in the present instance worked out into a spring (l), so that said handle may be moved vertically and iact both as a lever and a latch. When the switch is shut or in proper position for the passing of trains along the main track, as shown in Fig. 4:, the portions of the shutter or doors proper (c s) are opposite the Solid portions of the house while the apertures (a o) in the house are opposite the openings (d d) in the shutter, the latch and lever is in the center notch and the switch tender can enter and leave his house at pleasure; but when it becomes necessary to open the switch he must first enter the house and unlatch and then commence turning the lever; as he turns he opens the switch and causes the solid parts of the shutter to cover the openings into the house, so that when the switch is fully open all the shutters are covering all the apertures of the house and the switch tender is confined therein. He may now through a small window watch the train, and when all the cars are switched oi he can again unlatch and shift his lever.

As it is turned the shutters revolve, and.

when the switch is 'ully shut all portions of the apparatus assume the positions as eX- vhibited in Fig. 4;. 1f the switch be a double one, as shown in the drawings, and it be required to open it in the opposite direction to that shown in Fig. 3, the same movements of parts, but in a reverse direction, are effected, and when the switch is open the tender is shut in the house. l

My arrangement of shutters as above described and as connected with the switch constitutes likewise a very convenient and easily observablesignal which indicates to the' engineer of an approaching train the po'- sition of the switch, whether open or shut. To produce this effect in the best manner it will be well to paint the outside of the house and the outside of the shutter in colors which are strong contrasts to each other, and the color which is painted upon the outside of the house should be a light one. When the switch is shut both colors will be seen in perpendicular alternate stripes, and when the switch is open one color only with intervals of shade or shadow will be visible. At night a lamp giving a bright light may be hung up within the house, and the appear ance' of parallel lines of light will indicate that the switch is shut, while the absence of light will show that the switch is open.

Now it is obvious any kind of switch gate and latch might be employed as a substitute for lthose herein described so long as they are arranged in such manner as to render it necessary to enter the house in order to operate them. The shutter moreover may be moved by a motion derived from any part of the switch or gate through a suitable mechanical connection, or the shutter may only partially encircle the house if the apertures therein be properly located, or it may be replaced by a door7 either sliding or swinging,

so long as such door by means of a proper connection moves in unison with the switch, opening as the switch is shut and closing as the switch is opened. In fact, when the gate and latch are so located that the switch tender must enter his house as a prerequisite to opening the switch, then any contrivance which by means of a proper connection with the switch bars him in when the switchV is open and gives him free passage when the switch is shut will be the equivalent of the revolving shutter herein described. It is easy moreover to multiply such contrivances to an indefinite extent.

Any materials may be used in constructing the house and it may be made on any plan and any kind of switch, switch gate and latch may be employed in connection therewith, my invention depending not upon their plan or construction but upon the connection between the shutter or its equivalents and a switch in such manner that the motions of the former are dependent vupon the movements ofthe latter, as herein described, when the operating mechanism is so located that it is necessary to enter the house in order to put it in motion.

In come instances it might be wellV so to connect a door with a switch that the latter did not actually open the former, but only secured it shut when the switch was open. Such an arrangement is exhibited in Figs. 5 and 6,where a chain or cord (nl) is attached to a switch at (o) and passed down between two pulleys (p 79) and thence to an arm (g) att-ached to a door (r). When the switch is shut the door may be opened at will either from the inside or the outside, but when the switch is open it draws the chain or cord over one or other of the sheaves and shuts the door it it be open or locks it fast if it was shut after the switchman had entered his house. Red lines in Fig. 6 indicate the position which the various parts of the apparatus assume when the switch is open.

Any kind of sliding or swinging door may be employed in place of that exhibited devised which will still come within the scope of my invention. When therefore in this specification I say acting in `unison with the switch, or words to that effect, Imean acting really in such manner or in manner to produce the same effect so far asthe locking or barring inof the switch tender when his switch is open isconcerned.

`Having thus clearly described one method of applying the principle of my invention and indicated some of the various modes n which it may likewise be carried out I would state that I claim neither switches, switch-houses, switch-gates or` latches; nor do I claim any kind of door or shutteror connecting rods Nor" their equivalents as a means of actuating the same; but

What I do claim as of my own invention and desire to secure by Letters Patent of the United States isi The connection between the switch house door or its equivalent, and the switch or the actuating mechanism thereof, when said `mechanism is arranged substantially in the manner described, said connection being substantially in the manner and for the purposes herein set forth.

In witness whereof I have hereunto sub.- scriloed my name in the presence of two witnesses on this fourth day of March, A. D.

WILLIS MANSFIELD.

Witnesses:

JOSEPH BRECK, WM. HUGHES. 

